Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, recovered after initial losses in mid-day trade. While BSE Sensex moved up to above 82,800 level, Nifty50 was near 25,300. At 11:42 AM, BSE Sensex was trading at 82,812.81, up 316 points or 0.38%. Nifty50 was at 25,328.50, up 78 points or 0.31%.
The Indian stock market indices, Sensex and Nifty, managed to recover from their initial losses on Friday, primarily due to the strong performance of IT and banking stocks.
However, they are still on track to experience their worst weekly performance in over two years, mainly because of significant foreign outflows and growing worries about the intensifying conflict in the Middle East.
Despite the recovery, both the Nifty and Sensex are still down 3.3% for the week, which is their worst performance since June 2022, largely due to a 2% slump on Thursday, according to an ET report.
Investors are likely to remain cautious due to concerns about the escalating conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing foreign outflows from domestic equities. The conflict intensified earlier this week when Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel, raising concerns that crude supplies from the world’s top oil-producing region could be disrupted if the situation worsens. As a result, oil prices rose while global stocks declined slightly.
In the Sensex pack, the top contributors to the index’s upward movement were Infosys, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, TCS, SBI, and Tata Motors, while M&M, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Nestle, and Bharti Airtel traded in the red. On the sectoral front, Nifty IT and Nifty PSU Bank both gained 1.6%, while Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metal, Pharma, Consumer Durables, and Oil & Gas also traded higher.
DMart shares fell 4.4% in early trade after brokerages provided mixed outlooks on the supermarket chain’s Q2FY25 business update. Experts believe that the sharp correction in the Nifty on the previous day was primarily due to massive FII selling rather than fears of escalating tensions in the Middle East.
FIIs have sold equities worth Rs 30,614 crores in the cash market over the last three days, moving money from expensive India to cheap Hong Kong in anticipation of monetary and fiscal stimulus implemented by Chinese authorities to stimulate the Chinese economy and improve the earnings of Chinese companies.
The market direction in the near term will be influenced by the tug-of-war between FIIs and DIIs, with DIIs having deeper pockets and greater conviction to buy into the India Growth Story. The short-term trend for the Nifty has turned bearish, with the next support level seen near 25,070, where the 50-day EMA is placed. Resistance for the index has shifted down to the 25,400-25,500 band.
Asian stocks retreated on Friday, while oil prices headed for their sharpest weekly gain in more than a year due to escalating tensions in the Middle East. The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 15,243 crore on October 3, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 12,914 crore on the same day. The Indian rupee turned flat at 83.96 against the US dollar in early trade, and the dollar index declined 0.03% to 101.9 level.
